1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for processing and storing transaction data relating to parcels to be shipped and especially to a system which receives the transaction data and stores the transaction data on a disk for subsequent retrieval. The system has the capability of transmitting the stored data to a remote host computer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There exist, in the prior art, electronic weighing scale systems tailored to the typical UPS and U.S. Postal Service transactions. Two such prior art systems are the Model PC4 Parcel Register System and the Model PC5 Parcel Register System, both of which are manufactured and sold by the Orbitran Division of Data Card Corporation, Assignee of the present application. The Models PC4 and PC5 are microprocessor based parcel register scale systems which generate permanent records of shipping transactions. The system displays charges for all classes of United Parcel Service (UPS) and optionally for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and other services (e.g., Railway Express and Federal Express).
Prior art systems such as the Models PC4 and PC5, are designed to function as independent parcel register systems or to provide automatic control of standard postage meters. While such prior art systems function well for their intended purpose, they are not capable of collating other shipping data (e.g., invoice, destination and inventory data) with the weight and charge data, or of transmitting the stored data to a remote host computer for centralized processing.
There also exist, in the prior art, word processing systems in which the system program is off loaded from a disk or a remote computer. Such systems require the maintenance of a system disk or, alternatively, must be on line to a remote computer.
There is therefore a need in the industry for a system which is capable of storing not only weight and charge data but also other transaction data (such as invoice number, control numbers, department numbers, inventory data, etc.) and which is capable of transmitting the stored transaction data for a plurality of parcels to a remote computer. There is a further need for such a system in which the system program is stored in memory in the system for easy access. There is also a need for such a system which is capable of interfacing with remote computers manufactured by any of a variety of companies.